A Tale of Two Tides

Tonight, coach Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide will face Notre Dame for an unprecedented third BCS title in four years.

For Alabama football fans, it’s the best of the times. But not so long ago, it was the worst of times.

My first year at the University of Alabama followed Gene Stallings’ last with the Tide. In Stallings’ seven seasons as head coach, Bama had 70 wins, four SEC championship game appearances, an SEC title, five bowl victories and its first national championship since 1979. In 1996, Stallings’ final season, Alabama went 10-3 with an SEC West title and bowl win over Michigan.

Despite Stallings’ departure, hopes were high in Tuscaloosa. But a spring of hope was soon followed by a season of darkness.

Mike DuBose, the Tide’s defensive line coach from 1990-96, took over as head coach in 1997. After a 2-0 start to the season, significant scholarship reductions — the result of NCAA sanctions during Stallings’ tenure — took a toll. After falling to 3-3, Alabama’s final win of the year came on Oct. 25 with a 29-20 victory over Ole Miss. What followed was four straight defeats, beginning with an embarrassing 26-20 homecoming loss to Louisiana Tech.

That 4-7 season, the Tide’s worst since 1957, was capped with an 18-17 loss to rival Auburn that never should have happened. Leading 17-15 with less than a minute to go, Alabama faced a third-and-8 from its own 36. Instead of running the ball with the possibility of having to punt deep into Tiger territory, the Tide instead fumbled on a screen pass, Auburn recovered and kicked a game-winning field goal.

To make matters worse, Auburn fans tore down the goal post (yes, after beating a 4-7 team), carried it up through the student section and almost threw it over the edge of the stadium.

That was my first and last trip to the Plains.

The seasons that followed were mixed.

• In 1998, Alabama went 7-5, beat Auburn but lost to Virginia Tech 38-7 in an inaugural Music City Bowl remembered more for its freezing temperatures, sleet and rain than the actual game. It wasn’t fun, but at least the Tech fans were nice.

• In 1999, and despite another loss to Louisiana Tech, the Tide finished a surprising 10-3. Senior running back Shaun Alexander ran for 1,383 yards and 19 touchdowns, as Bama’s only conference loss came against Tennessee. The Tide crushed Florida in the SEC title game, but wouldn’t return to Atlanta until 2008. Alabama lost 35-34 to Tom Brady and Michigan in the Orange Bowl after Ryan Pflugner’s missed extra point in overtime. I got to celebrate Y2K in Miami, so it wasn’t all bad.

• In 2000, Alabama hit rock bottom. After DuBose was accused of having an affair with his secretary in the spring, the Tide entered the season ranked third in country. By October, Alabama was 2-3 and unranked. Following a 40-38 homecoming loss to Central Florida, it was announced DuBose would not return after the end of the season.

For me, the highlight of the 2000 season came just moments before the Iron Bowl, when I sold my student ticket outside Bryant-Denny Stadium for $100. In sleet and snow, the Tide went on to lose to Auburn 9-0 and finish the year 3-8.

• In 2001-02, Alabama went 7-5 and 10-3, respectively, under new coach Dennis Franchione. Though they finished first in the SEC West in 2002, the Tide was ineligible to compete for the SEC championship because of NCAA sanctions.

Franchione’s short tenure ended in December with his controversial departure for the head coaching job at Texas A&M. He was replaced by Mike Price, who created controversy of his own after being spotted at a strip club during a golf trip to Pensacola, Fla. Price was fired in May and never coached a game at Alabama.

• In 2003, amid turmoil and hammered by NCAA sanctions, Alabama turned to yet another Mike — former Tide quarterback Mike Shula, who had experience as an NFL assistant but had never been a head coach. The Tide went 4-9 and 6-6, respectively, in Shula’s first two seasons. His first season also marked the beginning of five straight losses to rival Auburn.

In 2005, Shula’s Alabama squad went 10-2 but was kept out of the SEC title game after division losses to LSU and Auburn. Those 10 wins, however, would eventually be vacated by later NCAA sanctions.

After a 6-7 season in 2006, Shula was fired, and on Jan. 3, 2007, Saban became the 27th head coach of the Crimson Tide.